What happens when Ethereum reacts to Federal Reserve moves?

[Ethan]

I see crypto as an alternative to the current financial system, so why does Ethereum still react so heavily to every Federal Reserve decision? Doesn't this strong connection to U.S. macro policy undermine the whole idea of decentralization?

[Kaile]

hey @Ethan that’s a great question, and honestly, a lot of people in the U.S. get hung up on the same thing. It helps to think of it like this: Ethereum is decentralized in how it operates — no single person runs the network — but its price is still at the mercy of global markets.

In the U.S., big institutional players and ETFs drive most of the trading. So when the Fed moves interest rates or the economy feels shaky, people’s "risk appetite" changes, and ETH's price moves right along with everything else. Decentralization keeps the technology running fairly, but it doesn't control how humans value it on an exchange.